State gets no proposals to redevelop part of Harriman campus in Albany

No developers are interested in buying 27 acres at the Harriman State Office Campus in Albany, New York, to build offices, retail stores or a hotel.

There were no responses by the Sept. 15 deadline to submit proposals for the property, said Heather Groll, spokeswoman for the state Office of General Services, which serves as the state's landlord.

"Our next steps will be to work with state and local economic development stakeholders to re-evaluate what options would better meet the needs of the current commercial marketplace here in the Capital Region," Groll wrote in an email.

The state announced in July it was seeking proposals for the property on the southeastern portion of the 330-acre campus off Route 85. The minimum price was $5.1 million.

OGS sought a variety of commercial uses for the land, but wouldn't allow apartments.

The inability to include apartments turned off one potential bidder, Howard Carr, a veteran real estate broker in Albany.

"The market drives what gets built, and the market is saying now that the elimination of residential is not what should be developed," Carr said.

He said $120 billion of mixed-use development that includes residential is being built or is in the development pipeline in the U.S.

Seven years ago, Carr proposed a master plan redevelopment for the entire campus that includes residential and other uses. He ultimately lost that competition to Columbia Development Cos., but the proposal went no further under former Gov. David Paterson.

The Harriman campus, located between Route 85, Western and Washington avenues, includes state-owned office buildings in the central portion. The northwestern portion is being redeveloped by the University at Albany for its Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurism Complex, or E-TEC.

By 2020, the daytime population is expected to be 12,400 employees and students.

Under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, $87 million has been spent on renovating office buildings and infrastructure upgrades at the campus. Another $152 million is being spent on further changes, including moving workers there from other state-owned or leased space and converting a building to a daycare center.